December 2006 Archives

Robert Parker opined on this wine on the eBob BBS, reporting: "Fabulous...this is the finest red wine I have ever had from South Africa...This debut release, the 2005, a blend of 37% syrah and the balance cabernet sauvignon, is world class stuff, exceptional wine...." Of course this caused a minor buying frenzy. I ordered from Garagiste and am still waiting for my bottles, but K&L Wine Merchants got a few cases, and I bought a bottle to take to a Christmas party attended primarily by wine collectors.

The wine has a great heritage, being a joint venture between Bruno Prats, former owner of Château Cos-d'Estournel, Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, co-proprietor of Château Angélus in Bordeaux, and Lowell Jooste of Klein Constantia Estate. And here is my tasting note:

The folks at Mariquita Farm may not be the best at spelling Italian, but they are super at seeking out and growing really interesting vegetables. This weeks winning entry in the "what was interesting at the Farmers Market today?" contest is the beautiful light-green Radicchio Pan de Zucchero, or Sugerloaf Radicchio.

I thought I was doing well to know that radicchio came in two shapes: round (Palla Rossa) and long (Rossa di Treviso). I somehow assumed that it all was burgandy colored, but that was wrong. Indeed, without even getting into the marvelous color of the Sugerloaf radicchio, The Italian Cooks' Seed Company lists six types.

I tasted a leaf of the Sugarloaf and it is crunchy and bitter just like it's darker colored relatives. The folks at the stand suggested that if the bitterness bothers you, the heads can be grilled or roasted and then become sweeter. I'm sure that I'll be experimenting with olive oil, salt, pepper and roasting, but I'm also tempted to take advantage of the light green color of this variety and to put in a salad. Everyone will assume that it is sweet like romaine. The surprise could be delicious.

It gets cold this time of year even in San Francisco. It is true that "cold" here means 15F above freezing, but it's still relatively cold and it still calls for emergency measures like chili, or even better —because it goes well with wine— braised short ribs

I purchased ~2.5 lbs of Prather Ranch short ribs and searched around for a recipe. I ended up adapting Mario Batali's very classic one as follows:

In a Dutch Oven, brown seasoned shortribs in olive oil. Remove to plate, add diced onion, carrot, and celery and brown. Add diced tomatos, red wine, veal stock, oregano, rosemary, and thyme -- scrape up and dissolve frond from bottom of pot. Add reserved meat, bring to boil, cover and keep in a 375 deg oven for two hours, or until meat falls from bone.

Remove meat from pot & reserve. Strain sauce, pressing on vegetables to extract maximum liquid. Degrease sauce, then reduce to concentrate flavors. Thicken with arrowroot.

Serve shortribs finished with sauce and garnished with a gremolata made from parsely, lemon zest, and freshly grated horseradish.

This should be served with a wine big enough to handle the strong flavors. A meal of short ribs with horseradish gremolata is a perfect excuse to break out a big Aussie Shiraz (I used a Marquis Philips Shiraz 9, and also used it for the braising wine).

'Twas good, and I'll try it again soon!

P.S. Mario's recipe specified Brown Chicken Stock instead of Veal Stock, and didn't specify degreasing, reducing, or thickening the sauce, but my Julia Child training kicked in and I couldn't help myself.

Since my stop at Golden Gate Meats also included purchasing some prime beef filet (for beef tartare) at $31/lb. this looks quite reasonable. I've had elkburgers (which I also bought here) and they are quite tasty, very lean -- yet flavorful.

I believe in progress, and I believe that cooking and eating are benefiting greatly from new ideas and that today is the best time in the history of the world to eat.

In the developed world, we are affluent enough that cooking can be an art, and today we are benefiting both from the availability of foods from throughout the world and from a great leap forward in technology and creativity.

Recently, four of the most important figures in this 'new cooking' published a manifesto in the British Guardian newspaper. Here is a summary.